Cambodia said it aims to shut down all online scam centers in the country by the end of April, as authorities intensify action against operations that expanded alongside gray-area online gambling activity during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith, who leads the Commission for Combating Online Scams, said that the government had targeted 250 locations believed to be involved in scam activity since July. Of those, about 200, or 80%, have been shut down.
Authorities plan to continue suppression measures after April to prevent the centers from reopening, according to Chhay Sinarith.
The latest enforcement campaign has resulted in 79 legal cases involving 697 alleged ringleaders and associates. Cambodia has also repatriated almost 10,000 workers linked to scam centers from 23 countries, while fewer than 1,000 people were still awaiting official repatriation.
Police on March 10 raided a suspected scam center in a high-rise building in Phnom Penh and arrested about 60 Cambodian and Chinese nationals.
Journalists were later shown equipment seized in other raids, including uniforms and fake identification cards allegedly used by scammers posing as Japanese police officers.
The government said the scam industry began on a smaller scale around 2012 using voice-over-internet-protocol phones. Chhay Sinarith said the activity expanded sharply during the pandemic when casinos, no longer able to rely on in-person customers, turned to online scams on an industrial scale.
According to the report, scam centers in Cambodia and Myanmar have been tied to fraud targeting victims worldwide, with criminal networks using false job offers and coercion to force foreign nationals into running romance and cryptocurrency scams.
Independent analysts have questioned whether the crackdown reaches the networks behind the operations.
Harvard University Asia Center Visiting Fellow, Jacob Sims, said: “The real question is whether this effort targets the system that enables the industry, not just the buildings where scams happen.”
Earlier coverage from GGI showed Cambodia’s regulated gambling sector generated $72m in 2025, up 14% year-on-year, while authorities also said they would take stricter action against illegal gambling activity and revoke licenses where breaches were found.
Cambodia currently works with China and the US on anti-scam enforcement
